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ROME

I. DEVELOPMENT OF THE REPUBLICAN CONSTITUTION

1. Original Roman State

Veil: Tibur 2. The Struggle between Patricians and Plebeians

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Rome 3. The Senate and Magistrates

Praenesta 4. Underlying Principles

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II. EXTENSION OF ROMAN SOVEREIGNTY

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•ThreeTaverns III. THE IMPERIAL GOVERNMENT

1. Imperial Authority
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Antium 2. Three Classes of Citizens

IV. ROMAN RELIGION

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1. Deities
Circeii
10 20 30ml 2. Religious Decay

10 20| 30 50km ©2003 V. ROME AND THE JEWS

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Rome and surrounding area 1. Judea under Roman Procurators and Governors

Maps Created using Biblemapper 3.0 2. Jewish Proselytism

Additional data from OpenBible.info

VI. ROME AND THE CHRISTIANS

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2. Tolerance and Proscription
Occurrences
3. Persecution
Luke 2:1 Now it happened in those days, that a decree went out from Caesar
Augustus that all the world should be enrolled.
LITERATURE Tiber
Acts 2:10 Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, the parts of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from
Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Rome (Latin and Italian, Roma; Rhome): The capital of the Roman republic and
empire, later the center of Lot Christendom, and since 1871 capital of the kingdom
Acts 18:2 He found a certain Jew named Aquila, a man of Pontus by race, who had of Italy, is situated mainly on the left bank of the Tiber about 15 miles from the
recently come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded Mediterranean Sea in 41 degrees 53' 54 inches North latitude and 12 degrees 0' 12
all the Jews to depart from Rome. He came to them, inches longitude East of Greenwich.

Acts 19:21 Now after these things had ended, Paul determined in the spirit, when he It would be impossible in the limited space assigned to this article to give even a
had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, "After I have comprehensive outline of the ancient history of the Eternal City. It will suit the
been there, I must also see Rome." general purpose of the work to consider the relations of the Roman government and
society with the Jews and Christians, and, in addition, to present a rapid survey of
Acts 23:11 The following night, the Lord stood by him, and said, "Cheer up, Paul, for
the earlier development of Roman institutions and power, so as to provide the
as you have testiUed about me at Jerusalem, so you must testify also at Rome."
necessary historical setting for the appreciation of the more essential subjects.
Acts 28:14 where we found brothers, and were entreated to stay with them for
seven days. So we came to Rome. I. Development of the Republican Constitution.

Acts 28:16 When we entered into Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the 1. Original Roman State:
captain of the guard, but Paul was allowed to stay by himself with the soldier who
guarded him. The traditional chronology for the earliest period of Roman history is altogether
unreliable, partly because the Gauls, in ravaging the city in 390 B.C., destroyed the
Acts 28:17 It happened that after three days Paul called together those who were monuments which might have offered faithful testimony of the earlier period (Livy
the leaders of the Jews. When they had come together, he said to them, "I, brothers, vi.1). It is known that there was a settlement on the site of Rome before the
though I had done nothing against the people, or the customs of our fathers, still traditional date of the founding (753 B.C.). The original Roman state was the
was delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans, product of the coalition of a number of adjacent clan-communities, whose names
were perpetuated in the Roman genres, or groups of imaginary kindred, a historical
Acts 28:21 They said to him, "We neither received letters from Judea concerning
survival which had lost all signiUcance in the period of authentic history. The
you, nor did any of the brothers come here and report or speak any evil of you.
chieftains of the associated clans composed the primitive senate or council of
Romans 1:7 to all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you elders, which exercised sovereign authority. But as is customary in the development
and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. of human society a military or monarchical regime succeeded the looser patriarchal
or sacerdotal organs of authority. This second stage may be identiUed with the
Romans 1:15 So, as much as is in me, I am eager to preach the Good News to you legendary rule of the Tarquins, which was probably a period of Etruscan domination.
also who are in Rome. The confederacy of clans was welded into a homogeneous political entity, and
society was organized for civic ends, upon a timocratic basis. The forum was
2 Timothy 1:17 but when he was in Rome, he sought me diligently, and found me drained and became a social, industrial and political center, and the Capitoline
temple of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva (Etruscan pseudo-Hellenic deities) was erected
as a common shrine for all the people. But above all the Romans are indebted to
these foreign kings for a training in discipline and obedience which was exempliUed
in the later conception of magisterial authority signiUed by the term imperium.

The prerogatives of the kings passed over to the consuls. The reduction of the
tenure of power to a single year and the institution of the principle of colleagueship
were the earliest checks to the abuse of unlimited authority. But the true
cornerstone of Roman liberty was thought to be the lexicon Valeria, which provided
that no citizen should be put to death by a magistrate without being allowed the
right of appeal to the decision of the assembly of the people.

2. The Struggle between Patricians and Plebeians:

A period of more than 150 years after the establishment of the republic was
consumed chiegy by the struggle between the two classes or orders, the patricians
and plebeians. The former were the descendants of the original clans and
constituted the populus, or body-politic, in a more particular sense. The plebeians
were descendants of former slaves and dependents, or of strangers who had been
attracted to Rome by the obvious advantages for industry and trade. They enjoyed
the franchise as members of the military assembly (comitia centuriata), but had no
share in the magistracies or other civic honors and emoluments, and were excluded
from the knowledge of the civil law which was handed down in the patrician families
as an oral tradition.

The Urst step in the progress of the plebeians toward political equality was taken
when they wrested from the patricians the privilege of choosing representatives
from among themselves, the tribunes, whose function of bearing aid to oppressed
plebeians was rendered effective by the right of veto (intercessio), by virtue of which
any act of a magistrate could be arrested. The codiUcation of the law in the Twelve
Tables was a distinct advantage to the lower classes, because the evils which they
had suffered were largely due to a harsh and abusive interpretation of legal
institutions, the nature of which had been obscure (see ROMAN LAW). The
abrogation, directly thereafter, of the prohibition of intermarriage between the
classes resulted in their gradual intermingling.

3. The Senate and Magistrates: The kings had reduced the senate to the position of
a mere advising body. But under the republican regime it recovered in fact the
authority of which it was deprived in theory. The controlling power of the senate is
the most signiUcant feature of the republican government, although it was
recognized by no statute or other constitutional document. It was due in part to the
diminution of the power of the magistrates, and in part to the manner in which the
senators were chosen. The lessening of the authority of the magistrates was the
result of the increase in their number, which led not only to the curtailment of the
actual prerogative of each, but also to the contraction of their aggregate
independent inguence. The augmentation of the number of magistrates was made
necessary by the territorial expansion of the state and the elaboration of
administration. But it was partly the result of plebeian agitation. The events of 367
B.C. may serve as a suitable example to illustrate the action of these inguences. For
when the plebeians carried by storm the citadel of patrician exclusiveness in
gaining admission to the consulship, the highest regular magistracy, the necessity
for another magistrate with general competency afforded an opportunity for making
a compensating concession to the patricians, and the praetorship was created, to
which at Urst members of the old aristocracy were alone eligible. Under the fully
developed constitution the regular magistracies were Uve in number, consulship,
praetorship, aedileship, tribunate, and quaestorship, all of which were Ulled by
annual elections.

Mention has been made of the manner of choosing the members of the senate as a
factor in the development of the authority of the supreme council. At Urst the
highest executive ohcers of the state exercised the right of selecting new members
to maintain the senators at the normal number of three hundred. Later this function
was transferred to the censors who were elected at intervals of Uve years. But
custom and later statute ordained that the most distinguished citizens should be
chosen, and in the Roman community the highest standard of distinction was
service to the state, in other words, the holding of public magistracies. It followed,
therefore, that the senate was in reality an assembly of all living ex-magistrates. The
senate included, moreover, all the political wisdom and experience of the
community, and so great was its prestige for these reasons, that, although the
expression of its opinion (senatus consultum) was endowed by law with no
compelling force, it inevitably guided the conduct of the consulting magistrate, who
was practically its minister, rather than its president.

When the plebeians gained admission to the magistracies, the patriciate lost its
political signiUcance. But only the wealthier plebeian families were able to proUt by
this extension of privilege, inasmuch as a political career required freedom from
gainful pursuits and also personal inguence. These plebeian families readily
coalesced with the patricians and formed a new aristocracy, which is called the
nobilitas for the sake of distinction. It rested ultimately upon the foundation of
wealth. The dignity conferred by the holding of public magistracies was its title to
distinction. The senate was its organ. Rome was never a true democracy except in
theory. During the whole period embraced between the Unal levelling of the old
distinctions based upon blood (287 B.C.) and the beginning of the period of
revolution (133 B.C.), the magistracies were occupied almost exclusively by the
representatives of the comparatively limited number of families which constituted
the aristocracy. These alone entered the senate through the doorway of the
magistracies, and the data would almost justify us in asserting that the republican
and senatorial government were substantially and chronologically identical.

The seeds of the political and social revolution were sown during the Second Punic
War and the period which followed it. The prorogation of military authority
established a dangerous precedent in violation of the spirit of the republic, so that
Pub. Cornelius Scipio was really the forerunner of Marius, Julius Caesar, and
Augustus. The stream of gold which found its way from the provinces to Rome was
a bait to attract the cupidity of the less scrupulous senators, and led to the growth
of the worst kind of professionalism in politics. The middle class of small farmers
decayed for various reasons; the allurement of service in the rich but effete
countries of the Orient attracted many. The cheapness of slaves made independent
farming unproUtable and led to the increase in large estates; the cultivation of grain
was partly displaced by that of the vine and olive, which were less suited to the
habits and ability of the older class of farmers.

The more immediate cause of the revolution was the inability of the senate as a
whole to control the conduct of its more radical or violent members. For as political
ambition became more ardent with the increase in the material prizes to be gained,
aspiring leaders turned their attention to the people, and sought to attain the
fulUllment o.f their purposes by popular legislation setting at nought the
concurrence of the senate, which custom had consecrated as a requisite
preliminary for popular action. The loss of initiative by the senate meant the
subversion of senatorial government. The senate possessed in the veto power of
the tribunes a weapon for coercing unruly magistrates, for one of the ten tribunes
could always be induced to interpose his veto to prohibit the passage of popular
legislation. But this weapon was broken when Tib. Gracchus declared in 133 B.C.
that a tribune who opposed the wishes of the people was no longer their
representative, and sustained this assertion.

4. Underlying Principles:

It would be foreign to the purpose of the present article to trace the vicissitudes of
the civil strife of the last century of the republic. A few words will suhce to suggest
the general principles which lay beneath the surface of political and social
phenomena. Attention has been called to the ominous development of the inguence
of military commanders and the increasing emphasis of popular favor. These were
the most important tendencies throughout this period, and the coalition of the two
was fatal to the supremacy of the senatorial government. Marius after winning
unparalleled military glory formed a political alliance with Glaucia and Saturninus,
the leaders of the popular faction in the city in 100 B.C. This was a turning-point in
the course of the revolution. But the importance of the sword soon outweighed that
of the populace in the combination which was thus constituted. In the civil wars of
Marius and Sulla constitutional questions were decided for the Urst time by
superiority of military strength exclusively. Repeated appeals to brute force dulled
the perception for constitutional restraints and the rights of minorities. The senate
had already displayed signs of partial paralysis at the time of the Gracchi. How
rapidly its debility must have increased as the sword cut off its most stalwart
members! Its power expired in the proscriptions, or organized murder of political
opponents. The popular party was nominally triumphant, but in theory the Roman
state was still an urban commonwealth with a single po1itical center. The franchise
could be exercised only at Rome. It followed from this that the actual political
assemblies were made up largely of the worthless element which was so numerous
in the city, whose irrational instincts were guided and controlled by shrewd political
leaders, particularly those who united in themselves military ability and the wiles of
the demagogue. Sulla, Crassus, Julius Caesar, Antony, and lastly Octavian were in
effect the ancient counterpart of the modern political "boss." When such men
realized their ultimate power and inevitable rivalry, the ensuing struggle for
supremacy and for the survival of the Uttest formed the necessary process of
elimination leading naturally to the establishment of the monarchy, which was in
this case the rule of the last survivor. When Octavian received the title Augustus and
the proconsular power (27 B.C.), the transformation was accomplished.

LITERATURE.

The standard work on Roman political institutions is Mommsen and Marquardt,

Handbuch der klassischen Altertumer. Abbott, Roman Political Institutions, Boston
and London, 1901, offers a useful summary treatment of the subject.

II. Extension of Roman Sovereignty.

SeeROMAN EMPIRE AND CHRISTIANITY, I.

LITERATURE.

Only the most important general works on Roman history can be mentioned: Ihne,
Romische Geschichte (2nd edition), Leipzig, 1893-96, English translation,
Longmans, London, 1871-82; Mommsen, History of Rome, English translation by
Dickson, New York, 1874; Niebuhr, History of Rome, English translation by Hare and
Thirlwall, Cambridge, 1831-32; Pais, Storia di Roma, Turin, 1898-99; Ferrero,
Greatness and Decline of Rome, English translation by Zimmern, New York, 1909.

III. The Imperial Government.

1. Imperial Authority:

Augustus displayed considerable tact in blending his own mastery in the state with
the old institutions of the republican constitution. His authority, legally, rested
mainly upon the tribunician power, which he had probably received as early as 36
B.C., but which was established on a better basis in 23 B.C., and the proconsular
prerogative (imperiurn proconsulare), conferred in 27 B.C. By virtue of the Urst he
was empowered to summon the senate or assemblies and could veto the action of
almost any magistrate. The second title of authority conferred upon him the
command of the military forces of the state and consequently the administration of
the provinces where troops were stationed, besides a general supervision over the
government of the other provinces. It follows that a distinction was made (27 B.C.)
between the imperial provinces which were administered by the emperor's
representatives (legati Augusti pro praetore) and the senatorial provinces where the
republican machinery of administration was retained. The governors of the latter
were called generally proconsuls (see PROVINCE). Mention is made of two
proconsuls in the New Testament, Gallio in Achaia (Acts 18:12) and Sergius Paulus
in Cyprus (Acts 13:7). It is instructive to compare the lenient and common-sense
attitude of these trained Roman aristocrats with that of the turbulent local mobs
who dealt with Paul in Asia Minor, Judea, or Greece (Tucker, Life in the Roman World
of Nero and Paul, New York, 1910, 95).

2. Three Classes of Citizens:

Roman citizens were still divided into three classes socially, senatorial, equestrian,
and plebeian, and the whole system of government harmonized with this triple
division. The senatorial class was composed of descendants of senators and those
upon whom the emperors conferred the latus clavus, or privilege of wearing the
tunic with broad purple border, the sign of membership in this order. The
quaestorship was still the door of admission to the senate. The qualiUcations for
membership in the senate were the possession of senatorial rank and property of
the value of not less than 1,000,000 sesterces (45,000; ?9,000). Tiberius transferred
the election of magistrates from the people to the senate, which was already
practically a closed body. Under the empire senatus consulta received the force of
law. Likewise the senate acquired judicial functions, sitting as a court of justice for
trying important criminal cases and hearing appeals in civil cases from the
senatorial provinces. The equestrian class was made up of those who possessed
property of the value of 400,000 sesterces or more, and the privilege of wearing the
narrow purple band on the tunic. With the knights the emperors Ulled many
important Unancial and administrative positions in Italy and the provinces which
were under their control.

IV. Roman Religion.

1. Deities:

(1) The Roman religion was originally more consistent than the Greek, because the
deities as conceived by the unimaginative Latin genius were entirely without human
character. They were the inguences or forces which directed the visible phenomena
of the physical world, whose favor was necessary to the material prosperity of
mankind. It would be incongruous to assume the existence of a system of
theological doctrines in the primitive period. Ethical considerations entered to only a
limited extent into the attitude of the Romans toward their gods. Religion partook of
the nature of a contract by which men pledged themselves to the scrupulous
observance of certain sacriUces and other ceremonies, and in return deemed
themselves entitled to expect the active support of the gods in bringing their
projects to a fortunate conclusion. The Romans were naturally polytheists as a
result of their conception of divinity. Since before the dawn of science there was no
semblance of unity in the natural world, there could be no unity in heaven. There
must be a controlling spirit over every important object or class of objects, every
person, and every process of nature. The gods, therefore, were more numerous than
mankind itself.

(2) At an early period the government became distinctly secular. The priests were
the servants of the community for preserving the venerable aggregation of formulas
and ceremonies, many of which lost at an early period such spirit as they once
possessed. The magistrates were the true representatives of the community in its
relationship with the deities both in seeking the divine will in the auspices and in
performing the more important sacriUces.

(3) The Romans at Urst did not make statues of their gods. This was partly due to
lack of skill, but mainly to the vagueness of their conceptions of the higher beings.
Symbols suhced to signify their existence, a spear, for instance, standing for Mars.
The process of reducing the gods to human form was inaugurated when they came
into contact with the Etruscans and Greeks. The Tarquins summoned Etruscan
artisans and artists to Rome, who made from terra cotta cult statues and a
pediment group for the Capitoline temple.

The types of the Greek deities had already been deUnitely established when the
Hellenic inguence in molding Roman culture became predominant. When the form
of the Greek gods became familiar to the Romans in works of sculpture, they
gradually supplanted those Roman deities with which they were nominally identiUed
as a result of a real or fancied resemblance.

SeeGREECE, RELIGION IN ANCIENT.

(4) The importation of new gods was a comparatively easy matter. Polytheism is by
its nature tolerant because of its indeUniteness. The Romans could no more
presume to have exhaustive knowledge of the gods than they could pretend to
possess a comprehensive acquaintance with the universe. The number of their
gods increased of necessity as human consciousness of natural phenomena
expanded. Besides, it was customary to invite the gods of conquered cities to
transfer their abode to Rome and favor the Romans in their undertakings. But the
most productive source for religious expansion was the Sibylline Books.
SeeAPOCALYPTIC LITERATURE, sec. V. This oracular work was brought to Rome
from Cumae, a center of the cult of Apollo. It was consulted at times of crisis with a
view to discover what special ceremonies would secure adequate divine aid. The
forms of worship recommended by the Sibylline Books were exclusively Greek As
early as the 5th century B.C. the cult of Apollo was introduced at Rome. Heracles
and the Dioscuri found their way thither about the same time. Later Italian Diana
was merged with Artemis, and the group of Ceres, Liber, and Libera were identiUed
with foreign Demeter, Dionysus, and Persephone. Thus Roman religion became
progressively Hellenized. By the close of the Second Punic War the greater gods of
Greece had all found a home by the Tiber, and the myriad of petty local deities who
found no counterpart in the celestial beings of Mt. Olympus fell into oblivion. Their
memory was retained by the antiquarian lore of the priests alone.

SeeROMAN EMPIRE AND CHRISTIANITY, III, 1.

2. Religious Decay:

Roman religion received with the engrafted branches of Greek religion the germs of
rapid decay, for its Hellenization made Roman religion peculiarly susceptible to the
attack of philosophy. The cultivated class in Greek society was already permeated
with skepticism. The philosophers made the gods appear ridiculous. Greek
philosophy gained a Urm foothold in Rome in the 2nd century B.C., and it became
customary a little later to look upon Athens as a sort of university town where the
sons of the aristocracy should be sent for the completion of their education in the
schools of the philosophers. Thus at the termination of the republican era religious
faith had departed from the upper classes largely, and during the turmoil of the civil
wars even the external ceremonies were often abandoned and many temples fell
into ruins. There had never been any intimate connection between formal religion
and conduct, except when the faith of the gods was invoked to insure the fulUllment
of sworn promises.

Augustus tried in every way to restore the old religion, rebuilding no fewer than 82
temples which lay in ruins at Rome. A revival of religious faith did occur under the
empire, although its spirit was largely alien to that which had been displayed in the
performance of the ohcial cult. The people remained superstitious, even when the
cultivated classes adopted a skeptical philosophy. The formal religion of the state
no longer appealed to them, since it offered nothing to the emotions or hopes. On
the other hand the sacramental, mysterious character of oriental religions inevitably
attracted them. This is the reason why the religions of Egypt and Syria spread over
the empire and exercised an immeasurable inguence in the moral life of the people.
The partial success of Judaism and the ultimate triumph of Christianity may be
ascribed in part to the same causes.

In concluding we should bear in mind that the state dictated no system of theology,
that the empire in the beginning presented the spectacle of a sort of religious chaos
where all national cults were guaranteed protection, that Roman polytheism was
naturally tolerant, and that the only form of religion which the state could not endure
was one which was equivalent to an attack upon the system of polytheism as a
whole, since this would imperil the welfare of the community by depriving the
deities of the offerings and other services in return for which their favor could be
expected.

LITERATURE.

Marquardt, Romische Staatsverwaltung, III, 3, "Das Sacralwesen"; Wissowa, Religion

u. Kultus der Romer, Munich, 1902; Boissier, La religion romaine, Paris, 1884.

V. Rome and the Jews.

1. Judea under Roman Procurators and Governors:

Judaea became a part of the province of Syria in 63 B.C. (Josephus, BJ, vii, 7), and
Hyrcanus, brother of the last king, remained as high priest (archiereus kai
ethnarches; Josephus, Ant, XIV, iv, 4) invested with judicial as well as sacerdotal
functions. But Antony and Octavius gave Palestine (40 B.C.) as a kingdom to Herod,
surnamed the Great, although his rule did not become effective until 3 years later.
His sovereignty was upheld by a Roman legion stationed at Jerusalem (Josephus,
Ant, XV, iii, 7), and he was obliged to pay tribute to the Roman government and
provide auxiliaries for the Roman army (Appian, Bell. Civ., v.75). Herod built
Caesarea in honor of Augustus (Josephus, Ant, XV, ix, 6), and the Roman
procurators later made it the seat of government. At his death in 4 B.C. the kingdom
was divided between his three surviving sons, the largest portion falling to
Archelaus, who ruled Judea, Samaria and Idumaea with the title ethnarches
(Josephus, Ant, XVII, xi, 4) until 6 A.D., when he was deposed and his realm reduced
to the position of a province. The administration by Roman procurators (see
PROCURATOR), which was now established, was interrupted during the period 41-44
A.D., when royal authority was exercised by Herod Agrippa, grandson of Herod the
Great, over the lands which had been embraced in the kingdom of his grandfather
(Josephus, Ant, XIX, viii, 2), and, after 53 A.D., Agrippa II ruled a considerable part of
Palestine (Josephus, Ant, XX, vii, 1; viii, 4).

After the fall of Jerusalem and the termination of the great revolt in 70 A.D.,
Palestine remained a separate province. Henceforth a legion (legio X Fretensis) was
added to the military forces stationed in the land, which was encamped at the ruins
of Jerusalem. Consequently, imperial governors of praetorian rank (legati Augusti
pro praetore) took the place of the former procurators (Josephus, BJ, VII, i, 2, 3; Dio
Cassius lv.23).

Several treaties are recorded between the Romans and Jews as early as the time of
the Maccabees (Josephus, Ant, XII, x, 6; XIII, ix, 2; viii, 5), and Jews are known to
have been at Rome as early as 138 B.C. They became very numerous in the capital
after the return of Pompey who brought back many captives (see LIBERTINES).
Cicero speaks of multitudes of Jews at Rome in 58 B.C. (Pro Flacco 28), and Caesar
was very friendly toward them (Suetonius Caesar 84). Held in favor by Augustus,
they recovered the privilege of collecting sums to send to the temple (Philo Legatio
ad Caium 40). Agrippa offered 100 oxen in the temple when visiting Herod
(Josephus, Ant, XVI, ii, 1), and Augustus established a daily offering of a bull and
two lambs. Upon the whole the Roman government displayed noticeable
consideration for the religious scruples of the Jews. They were exempted from
military service and the duty of appearing in court on the Sabbath. Yet Tiberius
repressed Jewish rites in Rome in 19 A.D. (Suetonius Tiberius 36) and Claudius
expelled the Jews from the city in 49 A.D. (Suetonius Claudius 25); but in both
instances repression was not of long duration.

2. Jewish Proselytism:

The Jews made themselves notorious in Rome in propagating their religion by

means of proselytizing (Horace Satires i.4, 142; i.9, 69; Juvenal xiv0.96; Tacitus Hist.
v. 5), and the literature of the Augustan age contains several references to the
observation of the Sabbath (Tibullus i0.3; Ovid Ars amatoria i.67, 415; Remedium
amoris 219). Proselytes from among the Gentiles were not always required to
observe all the prescriptions of the Law. The proselytes of the Gate (sebomenoi), as
they were called, renounced idolatry and serious moral abuses and abstained from
the blood and meat of suffocated animals. Among such proselytes may be included
the centurion of Capernaum (Luke 7:5), the centurion Cornelius (Acts 10:1), and the
empress Poppea (Josephus, Ant, XX, viii, 11; Tacitus Ann. xvi.6).

On "proselytes of the Gate," GJV4, III, 177, very properly corrects the error in HJP.
These "Gate" people were not proselytes at all; they refused to take the Unal step
that carried them into Judaism-namely, circumcision (Ramsay, The Expositor, 1896,
p. 200; Harnack, Expansion of Christianity, I, 11).

SeeDEVOUT; PROSELYTE.

Notwithstanding the diffusion of Judaism by means of proselytism, the Jews

themselves lived for the most part in isolation in the poorest parts of the city or
suburbs, across the Tiber, near the Circus Maximus, or outside the Porta Capena.
Inscriptions show that there were seven communities, each with its synagogue and
council of elders presided over by a gerusiarch. Five cemeteries have been
discovered with many Greek, a few Latin, but no Hebrew inscriptions.

LITERATURE.

Ewald, The Hist of Israel, English translation by Smith, London, 1885; Renan, Hist of
the People of Israel, English translation, Boston, 1896; Schurer, The Jewish People in
the Time of Jesus Christ, English translation by MacPherson, New York.

VI. Rome and the Christians.

1. Introduction of Christianity:

The date of the introduction of Christianity into Rome cannot be determined. A

Christian community existed at the time of the arrival of Paul (Acts 28:15), to which
he had addressed his Epistle a few years before (58 A.D.). It is commonly thought
that the statement regarding the expulsion of the Jews from Rome under Claudius
on account of the commotion excited among them by the agitation of Chrestus
(Suetonius Claudius 25: Iudaeos impulsore Chresto assidue tumultuantis Roma
expulit), probably in 49 A.D., is proof of the diffusion of Christian teaching in Rome,
on the ground that Chrestus is a colloquial, or mistaken, form of Christus. It has
been suggested that the Christian faith was brought to the capital of the empire by
some of the Romans who were converted at the time of Pentecost (Acts 2:10, 41). It
would be out of place to discuss here the grounds for the traditional belief that
Peter was twice in Rome, once before 50 A.D. and again subsequent to the arrival of
Paul, and that together the two apostles established the church there. Our present
concern is with the attitude of the government and society toward Christianity, when
once established. It may suhce, therefore, to remind the reader that Paul was
permitted to preach freely while nominally in custody (Philippians 1:13), and that as
early as 64 A.D. the Christians were very numerous (Tacitus Ann. xv.44: multitudo
ingens).

2. Tolerance and Proscription:

At Urst the Christians were not distinguished from the Jews, but shared in the
toleration, or even protection, which was usually conceded to Judaism as the
national religion of one of the peoples embraced within the empire. Christianity was
not legally proscribed until after its distinction from Judaism was clearly perceived.
Two questions demand our attention: (1) When was Christianity recognized as
distinct from Judaism? (2) When was the profession of Christianity declared a
crime? These problems are of fundamental importance in the history of the church
under the Roman empire.

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ROME, the capital city of Italy, situated upon the Tiber, 17 ms. n.e. from its mouth. In
the age of Augustus, who died Asher Dan 14, the population was supposed by
Gibbon, to be 1,200,000, present population 230,000. See map No. 7.

Strong's Greek
G4516: Rhm

Rome, the capital of Italy and the Rom. Empire (named after Romulus, the legendary
founder)

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